Superstition Backpack trip

On Sat. Don and I took Stacie and Richards kids on the Hieroglyphic trail hike in the Superstitions. The kids found lots of rocks to climb on (and make us nervous.)

Carson was so excited to reach 'the waterfall'. The hike is about a mile one way and he got a little tired but was so excited to reach our destination and find there really was a waterfall.

On our way up - even though it got warm Carson wanted to keep his 'old lady' jacket on. It is really his Old Navy jacket but he always says 'old lady jacket' then tells you a story about this old lady that gave it to him.

It is a pretty view of the valley on this hike with many interesting cacti. Megan wanted a pix of her with 'the view'.

I hope the kids remember this hike forever! I thought it was a good accomplishment for their first hike. We forgot to spell out the rules at the beginning however like 'don't run up the trail and leave us in their dust.' Austin ran ahead and when we reached the end of the hike he was nowhere to be seen. He had our sandwiches in his backpack and we were starved! Carson and I were the last to arrive and all these munchkins were having a ball on the rocks with no supervision. Megan was so worried about him. When he showed up he said he went searching to find where the water was coming out of the mt.

Carson confiscated my hiking stick early on. He sure loved this hike.

The rest of the pix are from our backpack overnighter

I have always wanted to backpack but didn't think I could carry a pack. Don assured me I could so off we went to the Superstition mts. We really want to hike Aravaipa Canyon so this was a trial run. It surpassed my expectations! It was so gorgeous. The first 15 minutes I thought WHAT AM I DOING! The pack seemed so heavy but I guess I got used to the pain. These pictures really don't do justice to how beautiful it was.

This view is what we woke up to and was actually taken from inside our tent. It rained during the night and everything was so beautiful as I laid there in the tent not wanting to get up. We camped by a running creek in a canyon at Hackberry Springs hiking through Garden Valley and up a ridge to get there.

Our tent was against this huge canyon wall which prevented most of the tent from getting rained on during the night. Don's strong hands could roll up those ground pads tight enough to get them in their bags. I was quite happy this $5 yardsale tent kept us dry when it rained about half an inch that night! There wasn't a cloud in the sky when we went to bed and I told Don we wouldn't need that rain fly because I wanted to see the stars through the air holes but he insisted on putting it on which I was so thankful for when the wind started blowing shortly after we went to bed then the rain started . . . I'm sure he was glad he didn't listen to me too.

This was our view from where we camped. I'm sure we were the only ones camped in the entire canyon that night.

Packed up and ready to hit the trail Tue morning. Those hiking sticks sure helped us maneuver through the creek on the way back.

The dark clouds sure made for some pretty sights. Everywhere we looked it was a gorgeous view.

Goodbye Superstitions -- we hope to be back soon! One has no idea just looking at this mt. driving down the freeway there are so many gorgeous hikes on this mt. Anyone want to join us for another overnighter? (I would love to have a llama or a mule though for our packs.)